Web Design Whim

Well I started to write an article on setting up a home network, and started to explain some of the terms, and it seemed to spiral out of control, so here is a lots of the terms explained and the actual guide will come later.

Modem.

In the old days, this connected to your phone line and Modulated and Demodulated the data you were sending and receiving.  In short?  It changed your digital data into sound.  this sound was then sent over the phone line and a modem at the other end converted it back into data.  Nowadays what people call modems are ADSL and Cable Modems.

NIC

Network Interface Card, the bit of equipment that allows you to connect to a network.  Can be either wired or Wireless.  Most laptops nowadays come with both,  most desktop machines will just have wired, but some will come with wireless.

Wireless – 802.11 a/b/g/n

802.11 is the world standard for wireless ethernet the a/b/g/n are all variants of it.

802.11a is wireless running on the 5 Gigahertz (Ghz) band.  It was initially used in the US and Japan, and allowed data transfer of 54 Megabits per second (Mbit/s)

802.11b was the european standard which ran on the 2.4Ghz band.  it only got up to speeds of 11 Mbit/s, but was then replaced by 802.11g.  The G standard also ran on the 2.4Ghz band but achieved similar speeds to 802.11a of 54 Mbit/s  This is the most common wireless in use today in Europe

802.11n is the new standard.  as of writing It’s still not been formally accepted as the stadarD, but the draft standard is what all 802.11n devices are compatable with.  802.11n gives a theoretical maximum of 600 Mbit/s, but in the real world will probably rarely get over 150 Mbit/s for quite a while due to the expense of the equipment.  If you look at a router for 802.11a b or g, there may be one or two antennae, but both send and receive the same data.  With 802.11n, there can be up to 5 antenna on the router, and each can receive different data, and the wireless card on your pc can also have multiple antenna, can’t for the life of me remember how many…

Ethernet/RJ45/Cat 5

The standard cabling type for a network.  pre ethernet there were network types called token ring and BNC, but these are consigned to history books now.  RJ45 is what the connector is called and category 5 aka cat 5 is the type of cable itself. Cat 6 is an improved version which is available now, but is still expensive at the moment.  cat 5 cables are designed for 100 Mbit networks and Cat 6 are designed for Gigabit ones.

Switch/Hub

A hub is simply a connection point for multiple devices.  If you have 2 computers connected via ethernet to a hub, they can talk to each other.  They still need a language like tcp/ip so that they can find each other and transfer data.  A switch is simply an intellegent hub.  Assume you have a 4 port hub with 4 computers connected.  computer a is trying to talk to computer d.  it will send out the data it is sending and the hub will send the same data to computers b c and d trying to find the right place.  a switch remembers where the computers are and knows that it only needs to send the data to the correct place to reach computer d.

Router.

The heart of a network.  Networks will work without routers, but using routers simplify things.  The whole internet is just a worldwide network of routers.  a large bunch of servers connected to routers have the content like webpages, but it’s the routers that make it all happen.  hmmm  I think i’ll come back to routers after tcp/ip….

TCP/IP

Transport control Protocol/Internet Protocol.  Data is the words we speak, TCP/IP is the language.  Every machine connected to the internet has an IP address of some shape form or fashion.  If your computer is part of a network at home you may very well have an address of 192.168.0.2 or something like that.  The unique IP address for your internet connection will be on your router, and will be one of a range assigned to your ISP to give out to customers.

ISP

Internet Service provider.  Companies who supply their customers with internet access.  Most ISPs will only supply one type of broadband, either DSL or Cable.

Bandwidth

The amount of data you can transfer through a connection.  for example a 10 Mbit line can transfer 10 million bits per second.  remember that most computer terms are in bytes, not bits.  this makes things confusing. since there are 8 bits to one byte, an MP3 song which is 3 megabytes in size is 24 million bits

DSL Broadband

Digital subscriber Line. Broadband over the telephone network. In the UK we have ADSL which is asynchronous, some countrys supply sdsl, synchronous.  ADSL simply means that upload and download speeds are not equal so a 10 Mbit download speed may only have a 600ish Kbit upload speed (as is the case on my line)

ADSL Filter/Line Filter

This is a small box that you stick in your home phone line when you have DSL.  the purpose of this bos is to seperate the DSL and Voice signals on your line.  It directs the DSL upload and download signals higher in the bandwith range, and limits the voice signal to low down in the range so the voice signal won’t effect the DSL signal.  this is why every device connected to your phone line, like fax machines, satellite TV boxes and telephones all need a filter between them and the phone line

Cable Broadband

Broadband over the Coaxial television system.  Tends to get higher speeds than DSL, but has the disadvantage that everyone in the local area will take a share of the bandwidth so at peak times it can slow down dramatically

There was more here I wanted to go into, but that’ll have to wait for another time.  It’s late and I’m tired

If you have any questions feel free to mail me on zygomorphic@webdesignwhim.com

* This article is written by Zygomorphic of www.webdesignwhim.com Please do not copy our material and portray it as your own work. Feel free to post our articles but only without removing this notice and stating where you got this article from. Thank you *

Heres our second free pack of logos.

As usual all we ask is, if you do use them on your website as a collection list of free graphics/logos etc you keep us listed as the author and you link to this website and if you use them as your own artwork/edit them for use on your own website you include our web link on your website somewhere.

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD FREE LOGO PACK TWO HERE

ALL LOGO PACKS INCLUDE .PSD, .GIF AND FONTS FOR THE LOGOS.

Well its been a few days since I have posted. To update you all, I have been flat out trying to learn how to code a wordpress template and all that malarky and been creating new templates and graphics for webdesignwhim to offer its readers.

Here is pack one of some logo packs we are producing. We may do banners also to match if we get enough interest in them. But feel free to download them for free and use them in your websites or art/design work. All we ask is, if you do use them on your website as a collection list of free graphics/logos etc you keep us listed as the author and you link to this website and if you use them as your own artwork/edit them for use on your own website you include our web link on your website somewhere.

DOWNLOAD FREE LOGO PACK ONE HERE

ALL LOGO PACKS INCLUDE .PSD, .GIF AND FONTS FOR THE LOGOS.

It’s quite hard today to buy a Laptop.  You can get Notebooks, but very few laptops.  And I’m not talking about Netbooks here, they’re a totally different kettle of fish.  But what’s the difference?  Laptops can be used on a Lap, Notebooks can’t.  Obvious really isn’t it?  There was a stage where every portable computer was termed a Laptop.  But then Machines got faster, and thus generated more heat, and so became too hot to be used on a Lap.  Notebooks are designed to be used on a hard flat surface.  See those little feet on the bottom?  They’re not there for decoration, they’re there to raise the base of the machine off the table to allow air to circulate out of the big vent on the bottom near the CPU fan.  When you put it on your leg, you usually block that vent causing the unit to overheat, and this can cause damage to the CPU, can melt the plastic of the case, and in more serious cases can burn you.

For peace of mind, I recommend a tea tray, you know the type with the bean bag base that is meant for having TV dinners?  Makes a nice base for a notebook to sit on if you insist on having it on your lap.

If you have any questions feel free to mail me on zygomorphic@webdesignwhim.com

I scream inwards when I hear people calling a Laptop AC adapter a charger.  It’s just a personal thing for me.  You can take the battery out of a Laptop and it will still work on AC.  So hang on, what’s it charging?  A charger only does 1 thing, charges a battery, but an AC adapter allows a DC device to run on AC current.  While the device is running, it may very well be charging the battery, but inherently it’s purpose is to allow the device to run.  So next time you hear someone refer to a Laptop AC adapter as a charger, be sure to point them out to this article to correct their illusion.

If you have any questions feel free to mail me on zygomorphic@webdesignwhim.com